China's Lunar Calendar 2018 10-20

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
10/21............................................................................................................10/14

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
二
十

六期星

Tenth Month, Twentieth Day  
Saturday, October 20

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

除寶
神光

Precious Rays
Exorcising Spirits

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉凶吉
酉巳丑
吉凶吉
戌午寅
中中吉

亥未卯
中中凶

23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
針栽
灸種

Planting and Cultivating
Acupuncture and Moxibustion

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
二
乙
酉
水
柳
閉

Twelfth Day (Ninth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Willow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Closed (12/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)

土
王
用
事
宜

————
補理
塞髮
除整
服甲
安掃
葬舎
血
支
俱月
將害

 ————

Earth King Use Affairs
(a marker dividing the year into five seventy-two day periods)

Appropriate Activities
Patterning Hair
Trimming Nails
Sweeping Rooms
Patching and Plugging
Discarding Clothing
Positioning Graves

Blood Branch

Baleful Asterisms

Lunar Harm
Everything General

 ————

Section Seven

白

White
 ————

Section Eight 
Miscellaneous Activities

門
磨 碓

Gate
Mortar, Pestle